Bound by Blood and Fate

heat spreading through his chest. His vision wavered, edged with flickers of darkness that weren't entirely his own. His heartbeat pounded, not from exertion, but from something far worse-something lurking beneath his skin, waiting.

No. Not now.

Not here.

He gritted his teeth, trying to suppress the force clawing at his mind. But it was too late.

The curse took hold.

A sharp, agonizing heat exploded in his chest. His breath hitched as the world tilted. The relic inside him flared with power, an ancient hunger seeping into his bones. He could feel himself slipping-his thoughts scattering, his control unraveling.

His hand tightened around his dagger.

He needed to finish this before-

A gasp.

Kael's head snapped toward the sound.

And there she was.

A girl.

She stood frozen in the dim torchlight, her wide eyes locked onto him.

His pulse stuttered. She wasn't supposed to be here.

The girl-no, the woman-was young, draped in a dark cloak that marked her as someone who didn't belong in a place like this. He could see the rise and fall of her chest, the tension in her fingers. She should have run.

But she didn't.

Instead, she took a step forward.

Kael's breath hitched. His body wasn't fully his anymore. The cursed trance had him now, his mind tangled in the relic's grip. He could feel its whispers slithering through his thoughts, urging him to act, to kill, to destroy.

His dagger lifted.

The woman's lips parted, her voice soft, hesitant.

"...You're in pain."

What?

Kael stiffened, barely restraining a flinch. His mind was screaming, his instincts demanding he push her away-no, kill her before she became a threat.

But he couldn't move.

She was stepping closer. Carefully, cautiously, like someone approaching a wounded animal.

And Kael... let her.

For the first time in his life, he didn't strike. He didn't threaten. He just stood there, trembling, his body torn between violence and something he couldn't name.

Then, she raised her hand.

His entire body tensed as her fingers ghosted over his arm, her touch barely there. A strange warmth bloomed where she touched, cutting through the cold haze of the curse.

"You're not-" she hesitated. "You're not lost yet."

A healer.

She had to be.

But no healer would dare approach a man like him. No sane person would.

Kael found his voice, rough and strained. "You don't know what you're doing."

"I know enough," she whispered.

Something in her eyes made his breath falter.

She wasn't afraid.

Not truly.

She should have been.

Kael clenched his jaw, fighting the pull of the curse, the overwhelming urge to strike. He had to make her leave before-

A wave of heat surged through him, stronger this time.

His knees buckled.

And before he could stop himself, he collapsed.

Right into her arms.

(Elara's POV)

What in the gods' names was she doing?

Elara didn't know why she hadn't run. Any sane person would have fled the moment they saw the assassin. She should have turned back the second she noticed the flicker of unnatural energy in the air, the raw magic rolling off him like a storm.

But she hadn't.

Because when she looked at him, she didn't just see a killer.

She saw someone breaking.

And something deep inside her refused to let him shatter completely.

He was heavy in her arms, his body trembling, a thin sheen of sweat on his skin. She could feel the raw magic pulsing beneath his flesh, see the tension in his jaw as he fought against it.

He was suffering.

And she could help.

Elara took a slow breath, ignoring the fear curling in her stomach. She had seen magic do terrible things before. She had witnessed curses unravel people from the inside out. But this was different.

This wasn't just destruction.

This was torment.

She tightened her grip on him, pressing her palm over his heart.

Her magic stirred.

The blood magic whispered to her, demanding payment, but she barely felt the sting as she called it forth. Energy thrummed between them, soft and steady, a tether forming in the space where chaos had been.

The assassin let out a shuddering breath.

His body slumped, the tension easing just slightly.

Elara swallowed hard.

She should leave.

She should run before he woke up.

But instead, she stayed.

Because something told her this was only the beginning.

And that thought terrified her more than anything else.